Speakers

Alok Sharma served as a Member of Parliament in the UK House of Commons for 14 years (2010-2024) and was subsequently appointed a Member of the House of Lords in the UK Parliament.

Prior to entering Parliament, Alok qualified as a chartered accountant and then worked for 16 years as an investment banker based out of London, Frankfurt, and Stockholm.

He served in a range of UK government ministerial roles prior to entering the UK Cabinet as Secretary of State for International Development. He was subsequently appointed Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy, as well as President Designate of the 26th UN Climate Change Conference (COP26). In 2021, he took on the COP President role full-time, leading the UK’s work in bringing together the world to tackle climate change and getting almost 200 countries to sign up to the historic Glasgow Climate Pact.

Alok was knighted in King Charles III’s 2023 New Year’s Honours for his services to tackling climate change. He currently serves as Chair of the UK’s Transition Finance Council, Co-Chair of the Rockefeller Foundation’s Climate Advisory Council, a Member of the Advisory Council of the Oxford Martin School at Oxford University, and a Distinguished Fellow at Conservation International.

On 18 May 2016, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Patricia Espinosa of Mexico as Executive Secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Ms. Espinosa took office on 18 July 2016 and served until 16 July 2022.

Ambassador of Mexico to Germany since 2012 and from 2001 to 2002, Ms. Espinosa was Minister of Foreign Affairs of Mexico from 2006 to 2012, bringing more than 30 years of experience at highest levels in international relations, specialized in climate change, global governance, sustainable development, gender equality and protection of human rights.

Faustine is an experienced coalition builder and recognised thought leader in the field of the energy and industry transitions. In 2019, she initiated the creation of the Mission Possible Partnership (MPP), an alliance focused on supercharging the decarbonisation of some of the world’s highest-emitting sectors in heavy industry and transport. She steered the build-up of the organisation in different roles before becoming MPP’s Chief Executive Officer in 2023.

Faustine also heads the Industrial Transition Accelerator (ITA), a global multistakeholder initiative launched at COP28 by the UAE, UNCC, and Bloomberg Philanthropies, which aims to significantly grow the pipeline of commercial-scale, clean industrial projects across heavy industry and transport. The ITA is hosted by MPP.

Prior to that, Faustine was the first Director of the Energy Transitions Commission (ETC), a founding partner of MPP, from 2016 to 2022. She spearheaded the ETC’s analysis on how to achieve net-zero energy systems globally by mid-century, and developed an extensive network of global leaders across energy, industry, finance, and civil society. She continues to serve as Vice-Chair of the ETC. She was also a Partner at systems-change firm Systemiq, where she led the development of the Energy Transition practice.

Earlier in her career, Faustine worked as a political advisor in Parliament and local authorities in France. She is an alumna of SciencesPo Paris and of the London School of Economics and holds degrees in political sciences and economics. She is also an OnPurpose Fellow.

Lord Turner chairs the Energy Transitions Commission, a global coalition of companies, NGOs and experts working to achieve a net zero economy by 2040.
He was appointed as an independent peer to the House of Lords in 2005 and is also an honorary fellow of the Royal Society (the UK academy dedicated to promoting science excellence). He became a Trustee Emeritus of the British Museum after serving on its board of directors from 2013 until 2020.
Lord Turner advises regularly climate and government bodies – including the COP Presidency and ministers in the EU, UK, China and Australia, and is often featured in global media as an expert on the energy transition, including in the Financial Times, Economist, BBC, CNN and Bloomberg.
He holds several roles in industry: he is the Chairman of insurer group Chubb Europe and Chairman of UK bank Oaknorth Ltd. and was recently appointed adviser to Watershed Technologies Inc., and to Renew Power (India)
During his public policy career, Lord Turner chaired the Financial Services Authority (2008-2013) where he played a lead role in the redesign of global banking and shadow banking regulation. From 2008 to 2012 he chaired the Climate Change Committee, an independent body advising and overseeing the UK’s government on their path to a zero-carbon economy. The recommendations set out in their first report “Building a low-carbon economy” were adopted by the UK government in full. Between 2002 and 2006 he chaired the UK Pensions Commission and recommended the creation of a system of defined contribution pensions which included an ‘opt-out’ element that proved transformative. He also chaired the Low Pay Commission (2002-2006), and was Director General of the Confederation of British Industry

I am a cabinet-level executive operating at the intersection of global policy, climate and development finance, and real-world implementation.

Over more than two decades, I have led complex systems across federal, state, and international contexts—translating policy ambition into measurable, financed outcomes. My work focuses on aligning public finance, private capital, and regulatory frameworks to accelerate delivery across climate, infrastructure, and environmental systems.

I serve as a credentialed delegation member to the UNFCCC process, with participation in four consecutive Conferences of the Parties (COP27–COP30), including High-Level Committee programming and ministerial-level Pre-COP engagement. My international work includes principal-level bilateral engagement, U.S.–China climate dialogue, and collaboration with multilateral institutions, global coalitions, and philanthropic partners.

What distinguishes my experience is the ability to connect global strategy with operational reality. I have led large organizations, navigated political and economic complexity, and delivered outcomes in environments that require coordination across governments, markets, and communities.

My work is grounded in a simple principle: global ambition only matters if it can be implemented at scale.

Tom Mitchell is the Executive Director of IIED, steering the overall direction and leadership of IIED’s staff, work programmes and partnerships. He leads on public communications, strategy development and implementation. He engages in public debate in key international events. He has a passion for finding innovative ways to unlock climate justice and is the author of the climate action strategy – Transformation, in Time. Until September 2022 he was the Chief Strategy Officer of Climate-KIC and Director of Climate-KIC International Foundation. He is a former co-ordinating lead author of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and UN Special Representative senior advisor for Disaster Risk Reduction.

His Excellency Bin Ali Al Amri holds a BS in Geology from Qatar University (QU), a master’s in Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology from Moscow University, and a PhD in Civil Engineering: Environmental Engineering from University Technology Malaysia (UTM).

His Excellency has been appointed as the Chairman of Environment Authority of the Sultanate of Oman by Royal Decree No.

Before that, he was the head of the water research section, vice chairman of Oman Abalone fisheries management and development committee, deputy chairman of Shura Council 2019, member of the UN committee in the international parliament for three years, and chairman of the Omani Belarusian friendship committee.

This year, he has been chosen by Forbes Middle East magazine as one of the top ten influential government leaders in sustainability and he takes the lead in the Sultanate of Oman towards net zero carbon and the National Plan on Orderly Transition towards Net Zero Carbon.

With 30+ years of experience across 40+ countries, David Kennedy is a recognized leader in sustainability and net-zero. He is currently CEO of the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi), following senior roles in both public and private sectors.

Previously a Partner at EY, David advised over 20 major firms on net-zero strategy across food, infrastructure, manufacturing, and banking.

As Director General at Defra, he led the UK food system through Brexit and Covid, with a focus on food security, biosecurity, and farming reforms to boost productivity and improve environmental performance.

As Director General at DfID, he designed and implemented economic development strategies in sub-Saharan Africa, focusing on clean infrastructure and private sector growth, and led UK representation in major international financial institutions.

His annual budget responsibility was several billion pounds over a ten year period.

David was the founding CEO of the UK’s Committee on Climate Change, where he developed the UK’s first carbon budgets and key policies for power, transport, and heat.

Earlier roles include leading on the economic case for nuclear power, EU ETS reform, and energy strategy / investment at the World Bank and EBRD.

He has a PhD in economics from LSE. He was awarded a CBE for services to climate change and a CB for public service during Covid.

Professor Easton’s expertise in accounting and valuation is widely recognized by the academic research community and by the legal community. Professor Easton has been qualified as an expert witness in the Delaware Chancery Court and he has consulted on valuation issues for investment firms and accounting firms in Australia, the UK, and the USA.

Professor Easton holds undergraduate degrees from the University of Adelaide and the University of South Australia. He holds a graduate degree from the University of New England and a PhD in Business Administration (majoring in accounting and finance) from the University of California, Berkeley.

Professor Easton’s research on corporate valuation has been published in the Journal of Accounting and Economics, Journal of Accounting Research, The Accounting Review, Contemporary Accounting Research, Review of Accounting Studies, and Journal of Business Finance and Accounting. Professor Easton has served as an Associate Editor for 11 leading accounting journals and is currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Accounting Research, Contemporary Accounting Research, Journal of Business Finance and Accounting, and Journal of Accounting, Auditing, and Finance. He is an Editor of the Review of Accounting Studies.

Professor Easton has held appointments at the University of Chicago, the University of California at Berkeley, Ohio State University, Macquarie University, the Australian Graduate School of Management, the University of Melbourne, and Nyenrode University. He is a member of the Scientific Council of CentER, Tilburg University and is the recipient of numerous awards for excellence in teaching and in research. Professor Easton regularly teaches accounting analysis and security valuation to MBAs.

He, together with John Wilde, Mary Lea McAnally, and Robert Halsey, is author of “Financial Accounting for MBAs,” now in its sixth publication; “Financial & Managerial Accounting for MBAs,” authored with Robert Halsey, Mary Lea McAnally, Al Hartgraves and Wayne Morse is in its fourth edition; “Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation,” authored with Mary Lea McAnally, Patricia Fairfield, Xiao-Jun Zhang and Robert Halsey is currently in its third edition; and “Estimating the Cost of Capital Implied by Market Prices and Accounting Data,” was published in Foundations and Trends in Accounting in 2009. He is one of the founding editors of Accountability in a Sustainable World Quarterly.

John joined ICMM in July 2022 and serves as Policy & Government Affairs Principal, leading ICMM’s global policy agenda and multilateral engagement strategy. He directs the organisation’s cross-cuting policy work, oversees high-level government and intergovernmental engagement, and frequently represents ICMM in political and multilateral negotiations across the UN system and other international fora.